This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

I heard him say it in Toronto last November and again a month later in Jerusalem. Though his ideas had been known for years, Dennis Ross — the U.S. chief negotiator for the Arab-Israeli conflict for most of the 1990s and still very much involved in it — wrote them up again earlier this month in the New York Times.

In view of the author’s ear to the ground in Washington, it’s reasonable to assume that the article presents a realistic agenda for next week’s visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Obama and Ross even may have discussed it in person.

Ross assumes that, despite the rhetoric, neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are at this stage anywhere near a two-state compromise. He writes: “Given the context of mutual disbelief, the idea that the two sides now will seize an initiative to end the conflict is an illusion.” When Obama says that he isn’t coming with a peace plan, it’s probably because he knows that it won’t fly.

However, as Ross puts it, “that cannot be an argument for doing nothing.” He, therefore, suggests interim confidence-building measures that would provide the necessary conditions for a peace settlement at a later stage while containing the conflict in the meantime.

To enable each side to work toward it, Ross has drawn up an agenda Israelis and Palestinians can address independently of each other. Thus he recommends that the Israelis undertake to build only in the settlement blocks close to the pre-1967 borders that are likely to remain theirs in a peace treaty, but not to build in enclaves deep in the West Bank where most Palestinians live and which must be part of a future Palestinian state.

Article Continued Below

Ross also believes that Israel should encourage its citizens to move away from the outlying settlements by compensating them financially, and take steps to end, or at least greatly reduce, its military control of most Palestinians territories.

At the same time, Ross maintains, the Palestinians should acknowledge that there exists in the region not only a Palestinian but also a legitimate Jewish national movement. Furthermore, they should actually put Israel on their maps and not pretend that the Jewish state doesn’t exist, as is apparently currently the case.

Ross would like the Palestinians to end incitement against Israel, not glorify terrorists as martyrs and to prepare its population for peace. He also recommends closing down the so-called refugee camps by providing permanent housing and accepting them as established neighbourhoods.

The two sides must also engage in at least modest joint activities. Israelis and Palestinians should provide opportunities for their youths to get to know each other; at present, Palestinians meet Israelis primarily as soldiers and Israelis tend to perceive young Palestinians as potential terrorists.

And each side should acknowledge when the other does something good. Thus, for example, Palestinians should celebrate when their people receive life-saving treatment in Israeli hospitals. Similarly, when the family of a Palestinian who died in an accident agrees that the organs should be used to save lives — Jewish no less than Palestinian — Israel should publicly express its appreciation.

Dennis Ross believes that “if the negotiations resume tomorrow, the two sides would largely talk past each other.” Therefore, he sees his proposals as “an agenda for discussions that can actually generate changes that ordinary citizens on both sides could see and feel.”

Obama is uniquely positioned to be the catalyst for this process. His visit could become a game-changer by helping both sides to take small steps now in preparation for peace later.

Dow Marmur is rabbi emeritus at Toronto's Holy Blossom Temple. His column appears every other week.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com